The governor has signed a bill that now allows state-licensed adult care facilities to offer telehealth services “when they are amenable to a patients' medical needs,” according to Assemblywoman Addie Jenne, D-Theresa.

In a statement released on Monday, Jenne said she “has long seen expansion of telehealth medicine as an important component of expanding access to health care in the North County and around the state.”

She says it also offers “an attractive option” for more routine medical visits.

"This bill means seniors could connect with their physicians without having to go out in the cold weather or having to sit in a medical office, where they are being exposed to other patients being treated for communicable diseases such as colds and the flu. It could even reduce the need for some patients to be transported to hospital emergency rooms for after hours care," Jenne said in a news release.

A second bill (A4703) that would allow telehealth services to be used at primary and secondary schools, child care programs and child care centers is awaiting Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s signature.

"This legislation is important as we move forward with the community school model that sees our schools and child care centers providing our children with far more than educational services,” she said in the release.

It allows children to access needed care from school, where they spend most of their time, through telehealth services, she noted.

She said reimbursement issues have limited the use of telehealth services at schools and child care centers.